Pentagon is Deploying Secure Mobile Devices for its Employees by 2014

The US Department of Defense had recently announced that it plans to provide its employees with mobile devices, computer tablets, as well as smartphones for them to be able to share protected and classified data quickly. With the latest mobile technologies, the military will be equipped with the necessary secured devices. Due to this announcement, expect mobile devices like Apple, BlackBerry, and Google to compete with each other in order to acquire the much coveted contracts with Pentagon.

With at least 600,000 users, Pentagon expects more of its employees to take advantage of mobile technology. Today, both Android and Apple platforms are being tested within the military. Because of this new trust by the federal government, it is expected that a more secure system will also be available commercially once the secured mobile system is already in place at the Department of Defense.

The Pentagon mobile device implementation plan is geared towards ensuring mobile applications, wireless infrastructure, and mobile devices to be more flexible, secure, and reliable. Soldiers, policymakers, planners, and even the chairman are expected to become mobile device users once this new system is fully operational. According to reports, the military services will be the one to decide which mobile devices to purchase for the whole Department of Defense if the new system is found to be secure.

The implementation plan is part of Pentagon’s “mobility strategy” which was first made public in June 2012. It plans to improve information collaboration and sharing within the department. Pentagon is currently accepting proposals for the creation of the management platform and applications store. The platform must be able to detect malware and allow officials to delete data remotely.

This move by Pentagon will eventually discard its present BlackBerry standard and implement a “platform agnostic” strategy which will integrate Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS operating system. According to reports, the Department on Defense won’t completely move away from Blackberry. It will just open its doors to more vendors.